NDP to consider legislating protest buffer zones around abortion clinics

The Alberta government EDMONTON is contemplating legislation that would create safe zones outside abortion clinics and keep protesters at bay.

Access to abortion is a legal right, Premier Rachel Notley said Thursday, adding that women seeking health care continue to face harassment. “Frankly, it’s just not something that women should have to put up with,” she said.

Other jurisdictions, including British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec, have legislation to create bubble zones around the perimeter of abortion clinics.

Ontario was the latest province to roll out the rules Feb. 1, banning demonstrations within 50 metres of a clinic.

“It is absolutely legislation that we are looking at right now,” Notley said.

Women’s Health Options — a clinic in Edmonton that provides abortion and family planning services — currently depends on a court injunction to prevent protesters from approaching patients around the building and in the back alley.

But the legislation to create a safe zone is still necessary, said clinic manager Kim Cholewa, noting patients often need to park on the street.

“It doesn’t stop (protesters) from yelling and screaming, calling the women coming into the building murderers,” she said Friday. “Protesters approach the patient outside of our bubble zone.”

Women feel distressed, threatened and as though their rights have been violated, she said, adding staff have also reported being harassed.

“It makes me feel incredibly sad that we have to have these kinds of injunctions,” she said. “That women can’t have fair and equal

Itmakesmefeel incredibly sad … that women can’t have fair andequal access like going to the doctor for a sore throat.

access like going to the doctor for a sore throat.”

Cholewa said she wants Alberta legislation to emphasize enforcement. In Ontario, breaking the rules could cost up to $5,000 in fines and six months of jail time for a first offence.

Subsequent offences could result in a penalty of up to $10,000 and one year in jail.

“We have people that violate our injunction. The only option we have is to call the police,” she said, adding that often protesters have left by the time police arrive. She estimated on average there are protests outside the clinic about once a week, but it varies.

Samantha Williams is executive director of The Back Porch, an anti-abortion centre facing the Women’s Health Options clinic. She said the injunction already creates a buffer and further legislation infringes on freedom of speech.

“We’re in a democratic society, any other group that has an unpopular opinion can protest,” she said Friday, adding that she hasn’t seen protesters use violence, harassment or intimidation. “Sometimes the people praying outside may speak to (women) if they’re open to it.”

United Conservative Party house leader Jason Nixon said he isn’t aware of the legislation in Ontario or the debate around buffer zones.

“I can’t comment on legislation I haven’t seen,” he said Friday. “If a bill comes forward like that, we would discuss it as a caucus and would come forward with a position at that time.”

Cholewa, who has worked at Women’s Health Options for more than two decades, said she’s noticed a “ramping up” of protests in the last two years.

“Women have a right to access standard health care,” she said. “This is one of the most common procedures in Canada.”